14 comments:

the really sad part is that I don't think it's going to get any better with the new administration. I really don't, I had high hopes but just based on what I have read and some of the other things that are happening with the other major broadband providers, I don't see them investing like they should, and a lot of that falls on the FCC and the mistakes they have made and continue to make.....sigh...

Yes, they have started hearings and I do know that they did allocate a large amount of money for rural broadband and yes, I agree completely that they are doing more than the last 8 years...but for me, I think it's not enough and I worry that other things and outside influnces will chip away at the process.

Broadband growth is still highly fragmented and very much geared towards major metopolitian areas and I fear that the broadband providers will only provide the barest of bones service to these rural areas or make the cost so high it's prohibited...

A big reason why the phones service worked was because of the universal service fund, and with nothing like that in place now for broadband and the extreme cap limits Time Warner is looking at...

It's just overall I worry...

So yes, I know they are doing things, it's just in this one case, at least for me, I wanted to see more and some clear direction on Net neturality, cap limits, etc...

I didn't mean to imply they were doing nothing, I just wanted more....in that regard I am a radical

:)

Oh and thanks for the link, I had not seen that article in the Post...

As for you, it's vital to rural economies (and so to national economies) that they have broadband from now on.Leaving it to local government to allocate sufficient resources for it is a disaster.Needs to come from the top. From regulators, state government, federal government, etc.And when the big ISPs want to get contracts for installing/upgrading high speed broadband and HD cable TV in lucrative urban districts, they should be forced to add rural districts too. Although in America, I guess that moment has pretty much passed.That 7 billion will disappear pretty fast, but it's a great start.

This reminds me of the story I heard on the CBC podcast Spark about internet service in Nunavut, where everything is dial-up.

http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2008/11/episode-53-november-12-15-2008/

Imagine never having that moment of download joy in having a high enough speed for downloading mp3s and watching videos.

In the long-run, the nation needs high speed everywhere. It's a business development thing.

but in the short run, the idea of dial up in so many places tells me that we as creators must make extra efforts to get free/low cost DVDs and CDs out to folks who might be interested, to bring everyone into this digital alternative culture.

Ryanne, it's Tiffiniy Cheng. I live on a mountain in rural W. Mass. There is no internet on our hill. I get some cell coverage, so I mounted a trucker antenna and a cell card. It's not good enough! It's awful. Glad you found a solution.

Interestingly the growth of broadband tracks closely what was happening with rual electrification in the early part of the 20th century. Rual customers and even small towns weren't able to get electrical service at all or were charged much higher rates for it because the electric companies didn't want to make the costly investments in infrastructure. The Roosevelt administration, eventually forced the build out of electrical service to rual areas through regulation and by subsidizing he build out because it was important for economic growth, jobs and the common good of the country.

The sad thing is that this didn't even start to happen until the 1930's so it still took years for some areas catch up with the rest of the country.

It seems that since high speed Internet is as important to our economy as electricity or even good roads that something similar needs to happen today. I think the Obama administration is basically on the right track on this issue. I certainly hope they are.

I guess my point is; it seems more apparent to me more now than ever that history repetes itself.